Google Gemini AI: What is it?
Formerly called Bard, Google Gemini is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot platform. It is intended to mimic human speech by utilising machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). Alphabet’s Google DeepMind business unit created the Gemini family of multimodal AI large language models (LLMs). In order to give users realistic, natural language answers to their queries, it can be incorporated into websites, messaging apps, or applications as an addition to Google Search.
Core Technology and Capabilities
LLMs: Gemini’s sophisticated LLMs build upon and replace models such as LaMDA and Palm 2. Bard’s first research model was called LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications).
Multimodality: Gemini’s innate multimodality is one of its main traits. This indicates that it is taught from beginning to end using data sets that include language, audio, code, and video, among other data kinds. Interleaved text, image, audio, and video sequences can all be understood and processed by it.
Cross-Modal Reasoning: Gemini’s multimodal architecture allows for reasoning with a variety of input data. To tackle complicated problems, for instance, it can comprehend handwritten notes, graphs, and diagrams.
Architecture: To analyse long contextual sequences across modalities, the Gemini LLMs employ a neural network architecture based on the transformer model. Processing lengthy contexts is aided by effective attention strategies.
Training: Using sophisticated data filtering, Gemini models are trained on a variety of multimodal and multilingual data sets. Models can be optimised for particular use cases by the application of targeted fine-tuning. During training and inference, they take advantage of Google’s most recent Trillium TPU processors, which provide enhanced performance, lower latency, and more energy economy.
Multilingual: Gemini can translate and comprehend more than 100 languages with its extensive multilingual capabilities. It is capable of multilingual image captioning, summarisation, and mathematical reasoning.
Important Features and Use Cases
Gemini is useful for a number of tasks:
Text-based
Text production, translation, and summarisation. It can help simplify difficult subjects and generate ideas. It uses data from the internet to deliver original, superior answers.
Visual
Comprehending and interpreting intricate visuals, such as statistics and charts (without the use of external OCR), labelling images, and visual Q&A. Additionally, it can create images using Google’s Imagen 3 model.
Audio/Video
Audio processing, such as translation and speech recognition. analysing and deciphering video clip frames to produce descriptions or provide answers.
Code
Code in a variety of programming languages, including analysis, explanation, and generation. The generative AI coding tool is powered by a version of Gemini.
Conversational
Made to have a genuine dialogue and respond in a way that is human-like. Even for children, it can simplify complex subjects by breaking them up into manageable conversational bites.
Gemini provides several iterations of answers. It is intended to be a supplement to Google Search, enabling users to quickly review its results or investigate using the “Google it” feature. Additionally, it features a double-check feature that offers URLs.
Model Variations
Google offered various model sizes at launch that were suited for particular locations and use cases:
- Ultra: Made for really difficult jobs.
- Advantage: Designed for large-scale deployment and performance. available in Google AI Studio and Google Cloud Vertex AI.
- Nano: Targeted is for on-device apps like the Google Pixel. Nano-1 and Nano-2 have 1.8 billion and 3.25 billion parameters, respectively.
Google also released an experimental beta of Gemini 2.0 Flash and upgraded versions of Gemini 1.5 Pro and 1.5 Flash.
History: From Bard to Gemini
On February 6, 2023, Google first revealed Bard, its AI-powered chatbot. Beginning with trustworthy testers, Bard’s access was made public on March 21, 2023. At first, Bard was driven by a condensed form of LaMDA. Following the success of ChatGPT and Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI, the development of Bard was allegedly accelerated, resulting in a perceived “code red” within Google.
When Bard was first released, it was criticised for a number of reasons, including a significant public mistake during a demonstration in which it gave false information regarding the James Webb Space Telescope, which hurt Google’s stock price.
About a year after its original announcement, on February 8, 2024, Bard was formally renamed Gemini. It is thought that the rebranding was done to highlight on the success and developments of the underlying Gemini LLM, simplify Google’s AI products, and deflect attention from the initial criticism of the Bard label.
Cost and Availability
With Gemini Pro accessible in more than 230 nations and territories and Gemini Advanced in more than 150, Gemini is a globally accessible brand. Although age limitations vary by country and platform, users must typically be at least 18 years old (e.g., the web app may be accessible as young as 13 in some areas, but users under 18 may be limited to English only). It is necessary to have a personal Google account, a school account, a Google Workspace account with access, or an AI Studio account.
There is no cost for basic access to Gemini. A paid Google One AI Premium subscription (which costs $20 USD per month after a free trial and includes Google Workspace features and storage) is required to access the more sophisticated capabilities through Gemini Advanced. Additionally, Google provides Google Workspace users with Gemini add-on subscriptions. There is also a free tier of the Gemini API.
Limitations and Concerns
Gemini confronts the same difficulties as other LLMs:
- Training Data: Large volumes of data are used to train the models, and these data may contain biases and prejudices from the actual world. Bias may still show up in outputs despite mitigation efforts.
- Accuracy: While providing material with confidence, LLMs occasionally give erroneous, misleading, or inaccurate information. Creating “hallucinations” or fabrications is part of this. A plant with the wrong scientific name and a false information regarding the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Originality and Context: Particularly with the free version, there are restrictions on the inventiveness and originality of the content generated. Geminis sometimes struggle to grasp context, which could result in unrelated answers.
- Plagiarism: There are no integrated plagiarism detection tools in Gemini or ChatGPT.
Responsible Development
Google claims that its AI Principles, which were released in 2018, serve as a framework for their work on Gemini (previously Bard). In an effort to maintain useful and topical interactions, the firm uses human feedback, review, and built-in guardrails (such as limiting dialogue duration) as part of its commitment to responsible AI development. Gemini was tested against scholarly standards and underwent comprehensive safety testing and mitigation about issues including bias and toxicity. Google claims that in order to make AI safe and practical, it still collaborates with outside organisations, offers tools and education, and works with communities.
Comparison to ChatGPT
Gemini and ChatGPT are AI chatbots that generate conversational language that sounds human by utilising generative AI and LLMs.
- ChatGPT has been limited to data up to a particular point (e.g., 2021 data indicated for older versions), but Bard/Gemini is intended to draw on current information from the web.
- While prior GPT models were initially text-only, GPT-4 is now multimodal. Gemini is inherently multimodal, having been trained on a variety of data from the beginning.
- Gemini is known to break down difficult subjects into manageable bits, but ChatGPT reacts to a single text input.
- Compared to GPT-4o, which has a context window of 128,000 tokens, Gemini 1.5 Pro is said to have a far bigger context window at 2 million tokens.
- In contrast to ChatGPT, Gemini offers a double-check functionality that allows users to confirm information.
- Gemini supports Google’s services, whereas Microsoft has included ChatGPT into its Bing search engine.
In conclusion
Google Gemini AI is the company’s multimodal AI chatbot, which was developed from Bard. It is intended to deliver complex, natural language responses and insights by utilising extensive datasets and web knowledge, and it can be used for text, photos, audio, video, and code. Despite its strength, it has similar drawbacks to other LLMs, including the possibility of bias and inaccuracy, which Google mitigates through ethical development methods.